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Japan Should Consider Joining U.S. Missile Defense Program, Experts Tell Prime Minister
Japan should consider joining the U.S. missile defense program, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 29). Japan plans to complete a large-scale defense review by the end of the year based on recommendations by the panel of academics and business leaders, Reuters reported. “A comprehensive judgment should be made after carefully verifying the effectiveness of a deterrent from the United States and the credibility of a missile defense system,” the 10-member panel said. Japan should loosen its ban on arms exports to the United States, and possibly other countries, the group recommended. That would be necessary for Japan, with an eye to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, to join the United States in producing a missile defense system, according to Reuters. North Korea fired a missile over Japan in 1998 and experts believe it could have as many as 200 Rodong missiles capable of hitting nearly any site in Japan. Tokyo has been participating in joint research with Washington to develop missile defenses, but has not moved to the development stage for fear of angering China, according to Reuters. Japanese officials, however, explicitly said they did not consider China a threat to Japan’s security. “China, by definition, is not a threat,” said a Japanese government official in reference to the report. Although experts believe Japan has the technology to develop nuclear weapons, the panel opposed doing so. “Japan’s own security efforts must work effectively for the defense of Japan and they must not pose a threat to other countries, and Japan must not possess nuclear weapons,” the report said (Teruaki Ueno, Reuters, Oct. 4).
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